Seeing Underneath the Underneath
by dazai-san
Summary: AU. High school student Naruto Uzumaki leads a relatively normal and somewhat safe life, even if he's hated for no reason that he can really explain. But when a broody, sarcastic, and yes, handsome, asshole transfers to his school, he is swept up into a hundred-year long war that holds the answers to all of his questions.


**Title:** Seeing Underneath the Underneath

 **Summary:** AU. High school student Naruto Uzumaki leads a relatively normal and somewhat safe life, even if he's hated for no reason that he can really explain. But when a broody, sarcastic, and yes, handsome, asshole transfers to his school, he is swept up into a hundred-year long war that holds the answers to all of his questions.

 **Warnings:** Swearing, crude humor, angst, possible OOC, supernatural, AU, homosexuality, heterosexuality, the works.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto—I simply own the minor OCs that pop up now and then, the world this takes place in, and the plot idea.

 **Pairings:** SasuNaru, YamaKaka, other minor pairings TBD.

~oOo~

Naruto kicks another pebble, sending it skittering down the cement of the sidewalk.

"Why do they hate me so much anyway?" Naruto grouses under his breath. "It's like they have a permanent stick up their asses…"

Really, only the ramen shop around the corner doesn't give him hateful looks, and that's probably because he's their best customer. Hell, even the library he works at doesn't like him at all, and _he's_ the one who has to carry the heavy books that he doesn't even read.

What's odd though, at school, he isn't really _beaten_. For some reason, the worst of the bullies won't even come _near_ him, like they're scared of him or something. The worst they do is just call him names that don't even bother him. The pussies. (It's really only the _adults_ that Naruto has to run away from.)

Naruto walks through the gate, visibly displeased as he usually is this early at school, and heads to his class, 3C.

There's only one sentient being in this godforsaken town that _doesn't_ hate him, and that's the little reddish brown fox that lives in his backyard. Once Naruto thinks about it, it's kind of sad.

Naruto takes his seat in the back of the classroom as per usual, ignoring the glares sent his way.

Normally, the girls' gossip doesn't really pique his interest—actually, he can count on one hand with fingers left over how many times he's actually listened in over the course of three years.

But today, they're talking about something interesting for once.

"Did you hear? There's a transfer student for _our_ class!"

"Yeah! And I heard that he was like, _totally hot_."

"Speaking of hot dudes…" And there they go, veering off topic again. Naruto tunes them out. He has all the information he needs now.

3C has had three transfer students ever. One had transferred in one day, and as soon as the gossip about Naruto got to him, he requested to transfer out. Another made the mistake of sitting next to Naruto, and once the gossip got to her and her parents, she moved three days later. The third had ended up being an ass, and he transferred to a different classroom… he still manages to piss Naruto off to no extent.

So of course, Naruto doesn't have high hopes for this transfer student.

Once the bell rings, Fujimoto-sensei enters. The student council president, Kaede Kayano, asks them to stand and they begin the classic procedure of "stand, bow, and good morning Fujimoto-sensei" before sitting back down.

"We have a transfer student," Fujimoto-sensei announces. "Come in, Sasuke-kun."

A poker-faced sixteen year old enters, looking bored. "Good morning," he drones in a bland tone. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. Pleased to meet you. Please take care of me." Sasuke bows to the minimal degree.

"Feel free to take any open seat," Fujimoto-sensei informs him. He then leans in to murmur something into Sasuke's ear, and Naruto has no doubt about what that is— _"you should stay away from the blonde boy."_

Naruto is certain that Sasuke will do as Fujimoto-sensei had asked. Sasuke makes a disgusted noise and Naruto is almost a hundred percent sure that it's directed at him.

Then Sasuke genuinely surprises the entire class by resolutely taking the open seat next to him.

"Um," Naruto stammers. "Are you sure you want to sit next to me?"

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "I do what I want. What am I doing?"

"Oh. Okay. Um. I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he mumbles. "It's nice to meet you, Uchiha-san."

"Kami-sama, you sound like a mouse," Sasuke grumbles. "And it's _Sasuke._ "

"Jeez, is that what I get for trying to be polite? A _'you sound like a mouse'_ and _'it's Sasuke'_?" Naruto snaps quietly.

Sasuke has the audacity to _smirk_ , the asshole. "So you _do_ have a backbone, Nezumi-chan."

" _Ne-Ne-Nezumi-chan?!_ " Naruto sputters, keeping his voice as low as he can. " _Excuse me?_ I am _not_ a mouse, _teme!_ My name is _Naruto!_ "

"As in fishcake?"

"Aargh, you are _impossible!_ " Naruto hisses. "As in 'maelstrom'!"

"Uzumaki, be quiet," Fujimoto-sensei calls from the front. "You are disrupting the class."

Naruto shuts his trap sullenly, ignoring the stares as he's used to.

"To be fair, Fujimoto-sensei, I did the same amount of talking as he did," Sasuke retorts.

"He was louder, and therefore disrupting the class," Fujimoto-sensei counters. "Please be quiet as well, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke rolls his eyes and does as he asks.

Naruto gives Sasuke a tentative smile.

~oOo~

As soon as class ends, Sasuke is mobbed by girls.

Naruto heads out to his usual place for lunch, a secluded area where most people don't tend to go.

Before he can even open his food, Sasuke rounds the corner of the tree, looking out of breath and panicked and he quickly takes a seat next to Naruto. "I _hate_ fangirls," he growls. "Don't you _dare_ abandon me to them again!"

"Um. Okay." Naruto proceeds to open his food, only to yelp in protest when Sasuke filches tempura from his box. "Hey! Give that back!"

Sasuke gives him that _smirk_ that Naruto is starting to dub the "Sasuke Smirk" because of exactly how _annoying_ it is, and chews on the tempura. "Do you still want it?"

"Hell no!" Naruto retorts, scowling before turning away to prevent Sasuke from stealing anything else from him.

Naruto scarfs down his food and turns around once he's done, where Sasuke is meticulously eating a sandwich. If it's even _possible_ to meticulously eat a sandwich.

"So," Sasuke says, "why do the people here hate you?"

Naruto frowns and shrugs. "I don't know. They've hated me since I was, what, six? From what I've heard, it's because some asshole decided to spread rumors about me."

"What kind of rumors?"

"They say I'm some sort of demon," Naruto mumbles. "And really, the only thing that could be considered _odd_ about me is a weird tattoo on my stomach that I don't know how I got."

Sasuke gives him a very long look, dark eyes staring at him for so long it begins to unnerve Naruto, and the latter waves a hand in the former's face. "Uh, earth to Sasuke?" For a moment, it seems that Sasuke's eyes are beginning to bleed red.

Then Sasuke blinks, and his eyes are the same shade of black again—a trick of the light then, Naruto decides, but an odd feeling nags at the back of his mind. Sasuke proceeds to shrug and take another bite out of his sandwich.

"Do you live with anyone?" Sasuke asks out of the blue, in a casual tone.

"Eh? No, why?"

Sasuke's eyes narrow ever so slightly that Naruto wouldn't have noticed it he wasn't watching him carefully.

"Nothing, I'm just curious."

"Do you live with anyone before you moved?" Naruto inquires, eager to know _something_ about Sasuke.

"Same as you," Sasuke answers, crumpling up the wrap around his sandwich. "Why do you live alone?"

"What is this, twenty questions?" Naruto retorts in a weakly joking tone. "It's because my parents died when I was born, and my foster parents were killed, and I can't remember anything about it. The doctors say trauma, but that's also when the rumors started. Why do _you_?"

"I'm from a pretty wealthy clan from where I'm from, but for some reason, one of us, my _brother_ , went on a rampage and slaughtered all of them save me." Sasuke says _"brother"_ in a vicious and biting tone.

Naruto's eyes widen. " _What?_ He—he _killed_ your entire clan?!"

Sasuke nods. "Apparently the people from my hometown thought it'd be healthier for me to move here. It happened a few years back, but recently I'd apparently had _'self-destructive tendencies'_ and decided that I come here."

 _Lie. You lie._

Naruto has always been able to detect lies exceptionally well. It's most likely due to the fact that he grew up in such a horrible environment, but Naruto just _knows_ when somebody is lying, and they _know_ they're lying.

He doesn't call Sasuke out on it though, because Sasuke most likely has his reasons for lying to him, and after all, they met only today. What reason would Sasuke have to tell him the truth all the time?

After all, Naruto hasn't told Sasuke about the reddish brown fox in his backyard, he hasn't told him about the adults, he hasn't told him everything about what'd happened in his childhood.

And he also never told him about _that night._

He probably never will.

Sasuke just cocks his head to the side slightly, looking at him with intense curiosity that Naruto really doesn't understand.

Then Naruto does the stupidest thing ever. He opens his mouth and blurts out, "Are we friends?"

Sasuke is silent for a few moments, looking a little startled, and Naruto berates himself to hell and back because _why, oh, why doesn't he have better control over his mouth?_

Then Sasuke gives him another one of those "Sasuke Smirks" and Naruto realizes that he'll have to bear with it for a _very_ long time.

"Of course. What did _you_ think, dobe?"

~oOo~

 **a/n:** Yay! A new project!

For all of you who are interested in reading this story, I will _not_ post any chapters after this until I have finished writing the first arc of this story, and it _will_ most likely take a while. If you like my writing, then feel free to check out _Oil, Water, and Blood_ , a more humorous crossover fanfiction that might catch your interest, and I _will_ update that frequently.

Please drop a review telling me what you think! I _love_ constructive criticism! Thank you!


End file.
